Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Religion Matters

Those who believe citizens should “Keep religion out of politics” betray a lack of knowledge about both. For the truth of the matter is the two have always been inextricably intertwined--never more so than today.

The current president as well as Delaware’s Democrat nominee for the senate, Chris Coons (among others either already in or presently seeking high office), hold strong religious/political beliefs based on a contemporary distortion of Christianity known as liberation theology.

President Obama learned much of his theology as a congregant of Jeremiah Wright, whereas Mr. Coons became a convert to the new theology during his stay in Africa and through his studies at Yale Divinity School. Both men share similar world views; views that infuse and inform their politics.

For those unfamiliar with theological trends, liberation theology as propounded by its founder, Gustavo Gutierrez and his followers and imitators such as James Cone and the aforementioned Mr. Wright, sees salvation not as an individual relationship with Christ, but as a collective sanctification of an entire society. For the proponent of liberation theology salvation is both social and political.

To put it another way, sin is no longer primarily of individual origin (original sin) but is collective, finding its origins in social structures which must be dismantled and rebuilt according to new salvific principles. Basically, those principles involve integrating the Marxist critique of capitalism within the framework of a re-interpreted Christianity. The concept of individual sin and individual redemption is replaced with the idea of collective sin stratified in class and social structures which need radical, “fundamental change” if humanity, especially the poor and oppressed of humanity, is to be collectively saved.

A new communist/socialist/”Christian” economic system is to replace capitalism, which is seen as inherently evil and oppressive. Capitalism is seen as creating poverty, fostering oppression of minorities and favoring only a few rich people.Further, liberation theology proponent James Cone, who heavily influenced Jeremiah Wright, saw the most oppressive class as white, believing white racism alone was responsible for the oppression of minority status blacks, but he did not stop there. He not only integrated Marxist economic thought with Christian belief, but called for a complete liberation of blacks from racism, capitalism and imperialism.

Our current president’s domestic and foreign policies are explicable in terms of black liberation theology, as he fights all three fronts—racism, capitalism and imperialism—from his position in the White House. Further, his foreign policy is an offshoot of liberation theology in that it exhibits strong “third worldism;” that is, a belief that the poverty in Africa and elsewhere is the fault of Western capitalist structures which keep the boot on the neck of impoverished nations. All wealth has the stench of unjust gain, and only redistributing unjust gains made at the expense of the poor will redeem society. Third-worldism also involves giving support to Third World national liberation movements against the West, as the West is the premier example of collective guilt by virtue of its sinful social structure.

In sum, for those whose beliefs are based on liberation theology, salvation for the world involves ridding the US of its faulty capitalist economic and social structures and leveling the classes by distributing the wealth of the rich. Thus both the US and the entire world will be collectively redeemed. That is why our president speaks so often of “collective salvation.”

The ferocious drive of the left to radically transform and fundamentally change the social and economic structures of the US and the entire West—to say nothing of the entire world-- then, often arises from their strongly held religious/political world view, a view which amounts to forcing a religion down the throats of the masses. ***

The above thoughts are pertinent to the hurly burly of the current senatorial contest in Delaware. For Delawareans, it is important to know Mr. Coons’ background and convictions are those of liberation theology. As Delaware is the corporate capital of the nation—capitalism defined!—it might not be a good idea to elect a man whose theological and political weltanschauung is intrinsically anti-corporation, anti-capitalist and anti-rich (anti-business class). It might be ruinous to elect a senator who has already indicated redistribution of wealth by heavy taxation is a cornerstone of his world view.

There is a reason Mr. Coon is attracting favorable notice from the White House. He shares Obama’s liberationist beliefs and has already indicated he is on board with the Obama agenda of radical restructuring of America—"fundamental change."

Delawareans should beware.

Someone else’s religion is about to be forced on you.

***Post script on an article just found: It appears I have a doppelganger in Jeffrey Lord of American Spectator, whose article on Coons and liberation theology provides much more exhaustive coverage than my own piece on the subject. For those interested, go to the following link:http://spectator.org/archives/2010/09/20/chris-coons-volunteer-for-libe

About Me

Fay her M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, which awarded her the seminary's Charles Hodge Prize for Excellence in Systematic Theology.
Fay was selected as one of the Delaware GOP's "Winning Women" of 2008.
She seeks to combine her love of theology with her passion for contributing to a vision for a moral political order.
Her writing has been frequently published in American Thinker and Delaware Politics.
Her blog is reader supported.